Distributed Pressure Sensor System for Aircraft Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Small aircraft, such as UAVs and sUAS, face challenges in maintaining stability and rejecting gusts and disturbances in urban environments due to the latency in existing inertial navigation systems and the complexity of proprioceptive sensing methods, which can lead to obstacles and mission failures.
Innovation Solution
A distributed pressure sensor system is employed across the leading edge of the wings, using multiple pressure sensor modules with differential pressure transducers to quickly detect changes in lift, stall, and flutter, providing real-time feedback for improved stability and maneuverability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional inertial navigation systems are used for vehicle stabilization, then vehicle stability is maintained, but there is inherent lag in attitude correction due to measurement delay
Solution Approach 1:
The pressure sensor system performs preliminary detection of aerodynamic disturbances before they fully manifest as attitude changes. By measuring pressure differentials across the wing surface, the system anticipates gusts and turbulence, enabling proactive compensation rather than reactive correction, thus reducing the effective lag in attitude correction
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback by constantly monitoring pressure differentials at multiple wing locations and using this information to adjust control surfaces in real-time. This closed-loop feedback mechanism allows the aircraft to actively counteract disturbances as they occur, improving both stability and response speed
2Reliability
If proprioceptive sensing methods using strain and pressure-based measurements are employed, then gust rejection capability is improved, but structural and aerodynamic modeling complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The wing surface is segmented into multiple measurement zones with pressure sensors distributed across different locations (leading edge, upper surface, lower surface). Each sensor provides localized aerodynamic information, and the collective data from segmented measurements enables comprehensive gust detection without requiring complex full-wing modeling
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces complex strain-based proprioceptive sensing with pressure-based measurement. Pressure sensors directly measure aerodynamic forces acting on the wing surface, eliminating the need for complex structural modeling of strain distributions and simplifying the aerodynamic analysis while maintaining gust rejection capability
3Measurement precision
If distributed pressure sensor modules are distributed across the wing leading edge, then detection precision of aerodynamic forces is improved, but system complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
Each pressure sensor module is designed as a universal, multi-functional unit that can measure pressure differentials between multiple locations (upper surface, lower surface, leading edge). This modular universal design allows the same sensor type to be deployed across multiple wing locations, simplifying manufacturing and integration while providing comprehensive aerodynamic measurement capability
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple pressure sensing functions are merged into integrated sensor modules that combine several pressure ports and differential pressure transducers in single units. This consolidation reduces the total number of discrete components, simplifies wiring and data acquisition, and eases manufacturing while maintaining high measurement precision through distributed sensing
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system enhances the aircraft's ability to detect and counter disturbances, reducing latency in attitude correction and improving flight stability and maneuverability by providing efficient estimates of aerodynamic forces and moments, thus preventing collisions and mission failures.
Implementation Method 1
a first differential pressure transducer fluidly coupled to each of the upper surface pressure-sensing port and leading surface pressure-sensing port to determine a differential pressure between the upper and leading surface
Implementation Method 2
a second differential pressure transducer fluidly coupled to each of the lower surface pressure-sensing port and leading surface pressure-sensing port to determine a differential pressure between the lower and leading surface
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein is a distributed pressure sensor system that quickly detects and counters changes in lift, onset of stall, and flutter. The distributed pressure sensor system may employ a plurality of integrated pressure ports distributed across the span of a wing's leading edge to gather differential pressure measurements. Based on the differential pressure measurements, the distributed pressure sensor system can estimate torque on the fuselage to provide a more efficient estimate for changes in lift, onset of stall, and/or flutter. These estimates may be applied as feedback to the aircraft's control system, thereby eliminating the latency in the existing platform dynamics.